Attorneys for convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo will argue Wednesday that his six Montgomery County, Maryland, murder convictions should be vacated, WTOP has learned.
Court records and sources familiar with the case said Malvo’s lawyers will ask Circuit Court Judge Sharon Burrell to vacate Malvo’s 2006 convictions in the Montgomery County deaths of James Martin, Sonny Buchanan, Premkumar Walekar, Sarah Ramos, Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera and Conrad Johnson.
In August 2022, Maryland’s Court of Appeals, now known as Maryland’s Supreme Court, ruled that complying with the standards of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Circuit Court must resentence Malvo.
Malvo was 17 when he and John Allen Muhammad, who was 41, began the attacks in D.C., Maryland and Virginia for a period of three weeks in October 2002. The attacks killed 10 people and critically wounded three others.
Since the 2022 ruling by the appeals court, Judge Burrell has held periodic hearings to discuss logistics of Malvo’s resentencing for his Maryland crimes. Among the issues discussed were security challenges in transporting Malvo from a Virginia prison to the Montgomery County jail.
Malvo is currently serving four life sentences in Virginia. As WTOP reported earlier this month, he has been transferred from Virginia’s supermax prison, Red Onion State Prison, to Keen Mountain Correctional Center.
Transferring Malvo for resentencing would require agreements from Maryland’s and Virginia’s governors.
Malvo’s attorneys have argued that he is constitutionally entitled to an in-person sentencing, and in November 2023 filed a Motion to Vacate Plea Agreement.
“Unless the state is successful in its effort to have the governors and Maryland arrange for the transport of Mr. Malvo to Maryland for a new sentencing, he will be unable to allocute for a lesser sentence,” wrote defense attorney Michael Beach. “If that occurs, a material term of his plea agreement has been breached and is unenforceable and Mr. Malvo will then elect to withdraw his plea.”
In an opposition motion, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said, “the Defendant does not cite to any authority for the proposition that the State bears the burden of producing the Defendant for the purpose of this resentencing.”
According to McCarthy, “The Defense has two options available: he can waive his right to be physically present at the resentencing or he can wait until he is released from custody in Virginia.”
The husband of Montgomery County victim Lori Ann Lewis-Rivera has filed a motion opposing the idea of vacating Malvo’s current convictions.
Attorney Victor Stone, with the Maryland Crime Victim’s Resource Center, said the defense’s assertion that Malvo is due an in-person sentencing is incorrect. “The right to be present at sentencing is a due process right that is satisfied by a video remote appearance,” wrote Stone.
WTOP is seeking comment from the office of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin regarding whether he would be willing to have Malvo transferred to Maryland to be resentenced for his crimes.
In 2017, Malvo filed a motion to correct what he claimed was an illegal sentence under a Maryland law, based on a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling barring mandatory life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders.
In 2021, the Maryland General Assembly abolished life sentences without parole for juveniles, overriding a veto by Gov. Larry Hogan. Virginia passed a similar law.
Maryland’s Juvenile Restoration Act, or JUVRA, states that people who have served at least 20 years of a sentence for a crime committed when they were under the age of 18 can file a motion asking the circuit court to reduce their sentence.
In 2022, Virginia denied parole for Malvo, ruling that he is still a risk to the community.
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